Robert Louis Stevenson has chosen to set this book in Soho London which shows transgression by the Soho atmosphere because Soho is a run down place and his house is located in a street in Soho where it is violent, deathly and full of gangs “the fog lifted and showed him a dingy street, a gin palace” this is contrasted with Mr. Hyde’s house which is ugly and fits in on the out side but on the in side it has been furnished with extravagant luxurious items and has class. The same could be said to Dr Jekyll nice and good on the out side but evil and sinister inside with Mr. Hyde.
All of this setting relates to Mr. Hyde as it is a reflection of him, he lives in a evil, ugly place and so is Mr. Hyde.
In Victorian day and very much to day you get judged on how you dress and how you look Mr. Hyde’s physical look is the epitome of evil as he was short, ugly, abnormal disabled and emotional (in sane) “Mr. Hyde was pale, and dwarfish” all of these were considered evil.
good and evil Is it a theory because we make up are own minds about what is good and evil but most of this is what we have picked up and we get most of what we know by the life we know, for example Mr. Hyde saw the night life of Soho and picked up every thing from there as Dr Jekyll saw the good life bright, money and nice people. Most of good and evil is linked to religion ‘god represents good in white and the devil in red and black for evil’
We can tell that Mr. Hyde has an abnormal look to him by the reaction of the other characters. Most people wont judge a person when they meet them but Mr. Hyde got this all the time there was something but no one could soy what it was ‘…he gave an impression of deformity without any namable malformation’ also Robert Louis Stevenson used and interesting oxymoron ‘he had a displeasing smile’ a smile is meant to make some one feel welcome, happy but he has a displeasing smile.
“I took a loathing to my gentleman at first sight” Loathing is extreme hate a dislike at first sight by Mr. Utterson unusual for him an extreme reaction.
“Never saw a circle of such hate” circle of hate, a circle of society which he is not a part of.
This is a very solid thought that he is evil and it is backed up by Utterson saying “if I ever read Satan’s signature upon a face, it is on that of your new friend” there isn’t a signature on Hyde’s face but this implies that he is made by Satin he is owned by evil .
Also in Victorian times the action you took and what you did defined if you were good or evil. Mr. Hyde has a element to him that people instantly hate and this is helped by the type of victim he chooses.
Mr. Hyde stomps and tramples over a little girl with no regard for the other person. This also give an element of evil as it was a little girl not a man and it is not an accident as in the Carew murder case his choice of victim is also frowned upon its and old gentleman as he beat him to the ground with his cane.
As I mention earlier published ‘’, which led to and Robert Louis Stevenson has incorporate this in his book
Mr. Hyde is not referred to as a human but as ‘it’ something not quite human and in the novel it keeps on making references to apes and monkeys.
“With ape like fury” a reference to Darwin. Not only that but also how he does things “Mr. Hyde broke out….clubbed him to the earth” first broke out with makes you think that he is a caged animal and he has broken out and the other clubbed him to the earth a cave man move as in Darwin’s book it referred to humans being made from apes and evolution and that is what Mr. Hyde is.
By Keval Patel